Machine Vision in the Warehouse
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Using Machine Vision for Logistics and Warehouses
Machine vision technology is used in a variety of industries. For example, in pharmaceutical manufacturing, machine vision helps inspect pills for defects, and banks use the technology to detect counterfeit money. Additionally, machine vision fits right into the current needs of and processes for logistics and warehouse facilities.
Receiving, Sorting, and Inspecting Products
Machine vision technology is positioned perfectly to help warehouses accept and store products and materials. For most warehouses, products are shipped on pallets that need to be unloaded and the products identified and stored. Warehouse teams can use machine vision to identify each item, assess whether the material is hard or soft, verify if the item needs to be handled with more care, determine the item’s texture, and more. Machine vision can inspect for any damages incurred during the shipping process. Warehouse administrators can transition these tasks to machine vision technology and system automation to help reduce the risk of injury for workers.
Furthermore, machine vision can help with quality control while receiving, sorting, and inspecting products for storage. In addition to assessing for damage during shipping, machine vision assists by looking inside opened packages to check for quality. Machine vision technology can take images and review the data to recognize materials or products and assess their quality. This technology can identify specific products by reading barcodes, but deep learning can also be applied to goods that don’t have a barcode or label.
Machine vision also can be used to assist autonomous mobile robots in delivering products and materials to their storage location within the warehouse. These machines can move throughout the warehouse and assess which shelves are empty, how much space is available, and what incoming inventory can be loaded in each space. By using imagery to identify and measure open spaces, the technology can then rely on the imagery data captured upon delivery to help warehouses properly store materials and products. With this level of sophistication, warehouses can maximize space.
Selecting, Transporting, and Filling Orders
Just as machine vision captures products upon delivery, during inspections, and as they are shelved in the warehouse, it also assists with the multiple steps needed to fulfill orders and ship the products or materials from the warehouse.
Machine vision can be used again to select the correct product based not only on the location in the warehouse but also on the image confirmation from the stored image data. Identifying the correct product helps autonomous mobile robots select the right products and remove those items from the shelves. Because orders vary in size, machine vision accelerates this process by helping the mobile robot identify how many different items need to be collected.
Just as products are inspected for quality upon delivery, they must be inspected before shipping. Machine vision can assist with this task, taking images to assess quality and ensuring that the right number of products has been picked from the shelves. And just as machine vision can help pack products efficiently on shelves, the same technology can help pack products efficiently in shipping containers, saving on costs and space. Machine vision also helps monitor shipping labels and barcodes to make sure they are positioned correctly, readable, and ready to ship.
Conclusion
Machine vision technology will continue to improve and expand, creating more opportunities for warehouses to automate tasks, ensure quality, and increase efficiency. With these advances, Mouser Electronics offers a wealth of resources and products to help design engineers realize the benefits of this technology.